Broken Reality
by Shade Strife
Summary: A short take on Cloud's delirium following his escape from ShinRa mansion. I do not own any of the characters within this story; all that loveliness goes to Squaresoft.


Mako swirled about him, holding him suspended inside the tank in which he had spent the past five years of his life. It filled his nose and mouth, cutting off his breathing, numbing his senses. Not that he used them anymore. They had died as soon as the mako covered him. For a while it had hurt; his whole body had burned like fire. Now it had settled into a numbness that weighed his limbs downward, though the liquid kept him afloat. As if it mattered. Pain and feeling were beyond his reach. What confused him were his thoughts. Images, voices, and feelings flashed through his head, some familiar, some alien, none of them making sense. He wasn't sure if they all came from his own head. Some were so strange that they almost had to belong to some one else. Most were vague, as though they came from a story someone had told him, but never quite completed. They could have been from his past, had he been able to remember his own clearly. Everything beyond the tank was a blur. He was lost inside his own mind, trapped inside an endless maze that offered no way out, no relief from the endless flow of thoughts that threatened to drown him like a child caught in a strong undertow.  
  
Tap tap  
  
Cloud slowly opened one eye. Through the green haze he could just make out the distorted features of a man caring a tray. Feeding time.  
  
The man fiddled with a dial on the side of the tank and Cloud felt the mako begin to recede. Unable to support himself, he sunk down with the liquid, until he rested slumped against the glass. Without the mako, he felt sick. Thoughts rushed through his brain at a feverish pace, making him feel dizzy. Someone tipped back his head and poured something down his throat. There was a chink as the bottle was placed beside him, then the man turned his attention to the instruments on the table. Letting his head roll to the side, Cloud looked through the glass and into the tank next to him.  
  
Arms crossed and head resting on his chest, Zack appeared to be asleep. The mako didn't seem to affect him as it did Cloud. Every so often he would move, shifting position, maybe opening one eye slightly. But that was all.  
  
The man came back. He examined Cloud closely, sometimes making notes, other times getting readings with one of his various instruments. Once he stuck a needle into Cloud's arm and drew blood. Cloud ignored it all. He didn't move, not even when the tank began to refill with mako. Dropping his head back onto his chest, he drifted off into sleep.  
  
He awoke to the sound of the tank door opening. Mako sloshed out onto the floor, taking Cloud with it. Not being prepared for the sudden change, Cloud retched up the mako that had settled in his lungs. When he was finished, Cloud lay on his side, blinking as he tried to clear his eyes. Splayed on the floor across from him was the man. He looked like he was sleeping if you ignored the large purple bruise spreading across his forehead. Zack came out from a backroom carrying his massive sword. Seeing that his friend hadn't yet risen, he pulled Cloud to his feet.  
  
"C'mon. We gotta get outta here," Zack paused and looked critically at his friend. "Umm, hate to say this, but your uniform's looking a little ripped. You might attract more than a little attention with that outfit."  
  
A little ripped was a vast understatement. The entire front area of his uniform was in shreds from where Sephiroth had run him through with the masasune. Even after all this time, the edges of the fabric were still faintly stained with blood.  
  
Zack laid him against the door and disappeared once again into the side room. He came back looking rather pleased with himself. "Never thought they'd keep hold of these," he muttered. "I'd like to know how they got hold of my stuff though." Cloud raised his head long enough to see Zack holding a SOLDIER uniform out to him. He gave Zack a long, steady stare before dropping his head back onto his chest.  
  
"Oh, come on. It doesn't smell that bad," Zack sniffed the clothes and made a face. "Okay, I lied. Get changed, quick." He looked at his unmoving friend. When he realized Cloud was too sick to do much more than glare at him, he helped him into the uniform. Cloud didn't object. The uniform did smell a little, but it was warm and dry compared to his old ShinRa one.  
  
After that, nausea caught up with him again. Cloud was bearly aware of Zack dragging him out of the lab and the mansion. He thought he saw his home, but that was stupid. He had seen it burn with his own eyes… or had he? He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. What was going on? He struggled with the thought for a while. What had happened?  
  
Somehow Zack managed to find them a ride. Cloud wasn't sure what was worse: the mako poisoning or the motion sickness. Zack seemed to be enjoying himself; right now his attention was divided between choosing his newest profession and annoying their driver. After a rather one-sided conversation with the driver, he seemed to have settled on one idea. "We'll be mercenaries! We're both good at fighting, it'll be simple: take a few easy jobs, charge an outrageous fee, and get rich!" Zack seemed rather pleased with himself. "I got a girl in Midgar, we could crash at her place. Oh, wait. The mother lives there too. Well that's out." He scratched his head. "I guess going to Midgar would be a good place to start," he leaned over and rapped on the back window of the truck. "Hey! We wanna go to Midgar! Can you take us?" Zack seemed satisfied with the man's response. "Finally, something's going right, eh Cloud?"  
  
All Cloud could do in response was groan and roll over onto his side.  
  
After what seemed like forever they arrived near Midgar. They were dropped a few miles from the entrance to the slums; the driver flat out refused to take them any farther. Zack had half dragged, half-carried Cloud most of the way there; from the ridge they were on he could see the gates and the two level city itself.  
  
Cloud felt Zack stiffen, then slowly lower him to the muddy ground. Out of the corner of his eye he saw him draw the massive sword he carried across his back before he moved out of sight.  
  
After a few minutes he came back, throwing glances over his shoulder. Bullets tore into the ground a few feet from Cloud's head. Behind him he could hear people yelling. Zack got as far as the edge of the cliff before he realized his friend was still lying on the ground and started to come back. He never made it.  
  
Cloud shut his eyes. There were people all around him, shuffling their feet in the mud. Somewhere near by there was a click as one of the men re-loaded his gun.  
  
"Do you want me to take care of him ma'am?"  
  
Cloud tensed himself. It would all be over soon…  
  
There was a pause. "No," came a woman's voice. "Look at him. He'll be dead in a few minutes anyhow. You'd just be wasting bullets. C'mon. We had better report this to Professor Hojo."  
  
Cloud lay in the mud after they had left, struggling with the two realties that were being forced upon him. He knew what had happened. He just didn't want to accept it. Dragging himself along on his hands and knees, Cloud sat himself at Zack's side. He shook his friend's lifeless body, even though he knew he wouldn't wake up.  
  
It started to rain. Somewhere in the distance thunder rolled. Cloud bent his head over Zack's dead body. Some where inside him he knew what reality he had chosen. It wasn't Zack lying on the ground anymore; it was he.  
  
Cloud picked up his sword and turned to look out over the flats below him. Lightning split the sky behind the massive city that sat some hundred feet above a run-down slum. Despite the sickness that plagued his mind, he still managed to get one thought through.  
  
"So this is Midgar." 


End file.
